PS4A Picks: forest fires and a house of horrors

This week, Dolph continued his discovery of the third dimension with the PlayStation VR, Mitch got friendly with the Baker family in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, and Sam got all emotional on Firewatch.

DolphGB

Over the last two weeks, apart from a reasonable amount of Rocket League, I’ve been immersing myself in the world of PlayStation VR again. Whether it is the peaceful Perfect, which allows you to just get away from it all, or Headmaster, which gives you neck muscles that rival Lewis Hamilton’s, there’s a lot to do in the virtual world right now. That said, Perfect isn’t amazing if I’m honest. I was expecting a little more. But it certainly is a peaceful place to go when you just want to shut out the real world for a little while. If it had more in the way of exploration, it would be a lot more interesting, but it does pass the time nicely.

Other than those two titles, I’ve had the pleasure of dogfighting in space thanks to EVE: Valkyrie, had an absolute blast in The Playroom VR (within which, Robot Rescue is so good it should be a standalone game), and experienced everything from street luge, to shark attacks, to being a gangster, to defying gravity, all thanks to PlayStation VR Worlds. That’s right – I haven’t yet played the fifth sub-game in VR Worlds yet. I’ve been a bit slow to the punch these last two weeks.

On the horizon, I see a lot more VR coming along. I’m keen to try out Eagle Flight, and Fruit Ninja VR looks like it is just too much fun. I finally found my old USB cables, so the PlayStation Move controllers that were gathering dust have just had their first recharge in a long time. Let’s see how they change the VR experience in the next two weeks.

Mitch

I’ve played a whole lot of Yakuza 0 this week – over 25 hours in fact! It’s easily one of the best games that I’ve played, and the cabaret club management minigame has me addicted. It’s the best Yakuza game yet and the amount of content it offers is astounding. I know I won’t be pulled away until I’ve completed it, and I’m on chapter 11 of 17 and have done less than half of the side content! Yakuza 0 is a game that keeps on giving, and it excels in storytelling, humour and action. Minigames include bowling, Sega’s OutRun, karaoke, dancing, pocket racing, gambling and several other activities – everything is good enough to entice you to spend hours on them too.

I’ve also played a lot of Resident Evil VII which I’ve finished and loved. I was wary about it being in first-person, and whilst I’d love to see a return to the original characters and third-person in the future, I admit that REVII does a great job in feeling like the earlier Resident Evil games and keeps up with the horror throughout the entire game. I did get a bit tired with the Molded enemies and repetitive action the longer the game went on though, and just wanted to get on with it at points – it felt like they were appearing around every corner in the second half of the game, and they were obviously spawning out of thin air. Regardless, it’s still a fantastic game!

Sam

Firewatch is simultaneously one of the calmest and most stressful games I’ve ever played. It’s a beautiful adventure in morality and mortality, and I love the way it explores the creation of relationships and sinking ships. It has left me wanting more, as in many ways I wish the story had lasted longer, even though deep down I know it was the right length. I would have liked an end that told me more, but that’s why it’s the perfect conclusion. If you haven’t played it, go and download it.

Meanwhile, The Witness is a peaceful game, which is highly rewarding. Every puzzle panel you complete feels like a genuine achievement. The game gives you an island to explore, no instructions at all, and tasks you with many environmental puzzles and adds new mechanics throughout. Each laser you activate feels like your biggest achievement in gaming. I endeavour to get the platinum trophy, but from many reports the game has not finished when you lift that final piece of silverware.

Final Fantasy XIV has taken a little bit of a backseat as I explore Blizzard’s Chinese New Year content in Overwatch. Speaking of which, FFXIV and Overwatch will probably be in my gaming library for what seems like the rest of my life. They both offer so much and are eternally entertaining.

My Turtle Beach 500P headset died this week, as it snapped whilst still attached to my head. I’ve replaced them with Sony’s official Platinum Headset. They offer fantastic 7.1 channel sound that allows me to here Genji loud and clear as he announces his Ultimate… God, I hate Genji… and Tracer… and Mei… and Roadhog. Basically, I just don’t like being killed.

Stefan Hutchings

My first venture into the world of game consoles was with the PSone, which I received for Christmas in 1999 at the age of nine. Ever since then I’ve been a huge fan of both the PlayStation brand and videogames in general. I have an extremely diverse taste in genres, although my preference is usually for action/adventure games, platformers and RPGs.

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